Lucy Arlington Books in Order

If you want the full Lucy Arlington story: Buried in a Book → Every Trick in the Book → Books, Cooks, and Crooks → Played by the Book → Off the Books
If you want the best introduction to Lila and the agency: Buried in a Book → Every Trick in the Book
If you like event-driven cozies: Books, Cooks, and Crooks → Played by the Book → Off the Books
If you want the later Susan Furlong phase: Played by the Book → Off the Books

Lucy Arlington is less a single writer than a shared mystery identity, built for one very specific kind of crime story, the kind that unfolds among manuscripts, literary agents, aspiring authors, and small town events that go badly wrong.

The name began as a collaboration between Ellery Adams and Sylvia May, two friends who developed the idea that became the Novel Idea Mysteries. Adams grew up near the Long Island Sound and now writes from North Carolina. May is Dutch by birth, has lived in several countries, and has balanced fiction with music and visual art. Together they created the first three Lucy Arlington novels, Buried in a Book, Every Trick in the Book, and Books, Cooks, and Crooks. Those early books found a big audience, and the first three reached the New York Times list.

That shared setup gave the books their hook.

In Buried in a Book, readers meet Lila Wilkins, a forty-five-year-old former journalist who lands an internship at a literary agency in Inspiration Valley, North Carolina, only to find murder waiting in the lobby. The next books build on that same mix of work life, reinvention, and sleuthing. Every Trick in the Book takes Lila into a book festival shadowed by two deaths and a hidden manuscript. Books, Cooks, and Crooks shifts the action to a celebrity chef event, where publishing meets food television and both come with bruised egos. What readers tend to like here is simple: the setting is bookish without being fussy, the tone stays warm, and Lila feels like a real person rebuilding her life in public.

Then the byline changed hands.

After the first three books, Susan Furlong continued the series under the Lucy Arlington name with Played by the Book and Off the Books. Furlong was born in Michigan and raised mostly in North Dakota, where long winters sent her to the library shelves in search of mysteries. She now lives in Illinois with her husband and children and writes across cozy mystery, suspense, and crime fiction. That background makes her a natural fit for Lucy Arlington, because these books work best when the puzzle moves quickly but the people still feel grounded.

Even with three writers connected to one name, the series holds together because the core idea is sturdy. Lila is smart, curious, and a little too willing to follow a lead. Inspiration Valley stays cozy but not sugary. Again and again, the stories turn on creative ambition, professional jealousy, local history, and the hazards of putting on a public literary event when too many people have secrets to hide.

That mix is the real Lucy Arlington signature.

Readers may come for the wordplay in the titles or the fun of a murder mystery set inside the publishing world, but they usually stay for Lila. She is not a glamorous super-sleuth. She is a middle-aged woman starting over, learning a new career, raising a son, and trying to keep curiosity from getting her in over her head. That gives the books a friendly, lived-in feel. So while Lucy Arlington is a pen name, it works like a creative relay. Adams and May built the world and its tone. Furlong carried it forward. The result is a compact run of mysteries that feels smart about books, fond of its characters, and very aware that even a charming literary gathering can turn into a crime scene.